Roland Martin has recently criticized Alabama congressman and former candidate for Governor of Alabama, Artur Davis for ignoring the Black vote. He said Davis lost the election because “he was arrogant as hell.” Here is an email he wrote to the Huffington Post.

Davis pointedly refused to do black media. He turned my TV One show down six times; he didn’t do Tom Joyner’s show, with 8 million listeners – TJ is a Tuskegee native; he turned down dozens of requests from Joe Madison of Sirius/XM; and he didn’t do many others.

He assumed because of his skin blacks would flock to his campaign. Sparks outhustled him and worked black voters in a major way.

Any smart politician knows to shore up their base. He was advised by top Democratic strategists, from the White House on down, to solidify his base. He never did that.

National media types were perplexed and shocked because they coronated him as a rising black star. Those of us who follow black politics closely were not shocked.

I hope national media outlets would stop lifting up black politicians as future stars. They have to earn it. Going to an Ivy League school doesn’t guarantee success. Black voters are like anyone else: you must speak to them, work with them and not take them for granted.

He did. And lost. Badly. He deserved to lose for running a tone deaf campaign that ostracized and minimalized black voters.